Metabolomics reveals the effect of Xuefu Zhuyu Decoction on plasma metabolism in rats with acute traumatic brain injury

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// Dandan Feng 1 , Zian Xia 1 , Jing Zhou 1 , Hongmei Lu 2 , Chunhu Zhang 1 , Rong Fan 1 , Xingui Xiong 1 , Hanjin Cui 1 , Pingping Gan 3 , Wei Huang 1 , Weijun Peng 4 , Feng He 5 , Zhiming Wang 5 , Yang Wang 1 and Tao Tang 1 1 Institute of Integrative Chinese Medicine, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410008, P.R. China 2 Research Center of Modernization of Traditional Chinese Medicines, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, P.R. China 3 Department of Oncology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410008, P.R. China 4 Department of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410011, P.R. China 5 Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410008, P.R. China Correspondence to: Yang Wang, email: wangyang_xy87@csu.edu.cn Tao Tang, email: falcontang@126.com Keywords: metabolomics, acute traumatic brain injury, traditional Chinese medicine, Xuefu Zhuyu Decoction, gas chromatography/mass spectrometry Received: February 21, 2017      Accepted: September 03, 2017      Published: October 16, 2017 ABSTRACT Xuefu Zhuyu Decoction (XFZY), an important traditional Chinese herbal formula, has been reported effective on traumatic brain injury (TBI) in rats. However, its cerebral protection mechanism has not been clarified at the metabolic level. This work aims to explore the global metabolic characteristics of XFZY in rats during the acute phase of TBI on days 1 and 3. A plasma metabolomics method based on gas chromatography-mass spectrometry coupled with univariate analysis and multivariate statistical analysis was performed in three groups (Sham, Vehicle, XFZY). Then, a pathway analysis using MetaboAnalyst 3.0 was performed to illustrate the pathways of therapeutic action of XFZY in TBI. XFZY treatment attenuates neurological dysfunction and cortical lesion volume post-injury on day 3, and reverses the plasma metabolite abnormalities (glutamic acid, lactic acid, 3-hydroxybutyric acid, and ribitol, etc.). These differential metabolites are mainly involved in D-glutamine and D-glutamate metabolism, alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism, and inositol phosphate metabolism. Our study reveals potential biomarkers and metabolic networks of acute TBI and neuroprotection effects of XFZY, and shows this metabolomics approach with MetaboAnalyst would be a feasible way to systematically study therapeutic effects of XFZY on TBI.